oppose charter change

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. He who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or decisions possible or impossible to execute.
Abraham Lincoln

Visit notoconass.com for the manifestoIn the baby book of my daughter, Lauren, there is a blank space written there for current events on the day of her birth. You know how moms are. We want to document everything and reminisce on those good old days. I clearly remember scribbling down …Today, March 25, 1986, THE 1986 PROVISIONAL “FREEDOM” CONSTITUTION was proclaimed. What joy it was to whisper to my first-born that she is going to live in a democratic society. I stroked her chubby little fingers and told her that “A new government was installed through a direct exercise of the power of the Filipino people assisted by units of the New Armed Forces of the Philippines and the heroic action of the people was done in defiance of the provisions of the 1973 Constitution.” Oh yes, our country held so much hope for her future.

The following year on February 11, 1987, the 1987 Constituion of the Philippines was proclaimed and took effect, just six months before I gave birth to my second daughter, M. So full of hope and love of country, I threw the US immigration papers aside that my sister sent over to me, as I read the Preamble:

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

And what happened just a few hours ago? It took only a few seconds for the House of Representatives to approve a resolution that would convene Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution. (click here to read Proposed Charter Amendments).

Read More »Oppose Constituent Assembly